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Turkish celebrity chef Salt Bae to open Tel Aviv restaurant

Millionaire butcher, famous for his flamboyant social media videos and elbow-drop method of salting beef, will add coastal city to his portfolio of restaurants

A woman walks past  a window featuring a likeness of chef and social media star Salt Bae outside the Nusr-Et Boston restaurant, in Boston, September 29, 2020. (Steven Senne/AP)
A woman walks past a window featuring a likeness of chef and social media star Salt Bae outside the Nusr-Et Boston restaurant, in Boston, September 29, 2020. (Steven Senne/AP)

Turkish celebrity chef Nusret Gökçe announced Tuesday that he will open one of his exclusive restaurants in Tel Aviv.

The butcher of humble background earned the nickname Salt Bae from social media videos in which he flamboyantly prepares salted beef, including his signature method of dropping salt onto meat by sliding it down his raised forearm.

In a post to his Instagram account, which has some 50 million followers, Salt Bae revealed that he will add Tel Aviv to the other sites around the world where he has opened restaurants in his Nusr-Et chain.

The new eatery will open in the ToHA tower opposite the Azrieli Towers in Tel Aviv, according to Hebrew media reports.

A meal in one of his other restaurants usually costs at least $200 per person, the Kan public broadcaster reported.

Despite some bad reviews, his luxury steakhouses have remained popular and are estimated to earn him millions of dollars each year.

https://twitter.com/nusr_et_tr/status/818456757450244096

Salt Bae, 40, was raised in a Kurdish family in Turkey and left school in sixth grade, when he got a job as a butcher’s apprentice to help support his family.

He later gained experience working in restaurants in the United States and Argentina before returning to Turkey to open his own eatery.

He rose to fame in 2017 when he posted a video of himself preparing a side of beef that was eventually viewed by millions.

Since then he has gone on to internet fame and has opened restaurants in Turkey, Greece, the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. He controversially got access to the soccer pitch after the World Cup final in Qatar last month.

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